Mya Vs Km

I recently purchased some KM Pears for use at my lounge and was really let down by them in general. The way people on the forum talk about KM's you'd think that with every pull an angel gets it's wings. But I honestly don't understand the hype. Here are my thoughts.

Looks - KM's seem to be very traditional hookahs with very traditional looks. They look hand-made and hand painted. If this is something that appeals to you, a KM would be a good choice. However, they kind of have a very unrefined look to them, IMO. The only other hookahs I have owned have been MYA hookahs. Sure, these are probably made at some factory by machines, but the look is very refined and highly polished. I find that a bit more appealing.

Build Quality - Due to the hand-made-ness of KM's I really question their quality. Usually, hand-made translates into a higher quality product. KM's however seem to be a guessing game of which hookah will have which flaw. We got ten Pears and out of the ones we opened, not one of them was without a flaw. One had a crooked base which made the entire stem sit crooked and lean. Another had a chip in the "pear" on the stem. When customers point this stuff out, I just explain that these are hand-made and much like something that would be bought at a bazaar somewhere in the Middle East. With Mya's, on the other hand, I have never seen a flaw that I have not introduced myself. Again, they are much more refined and polished than the KM's.

Smoke - For a test, we set up a KM Pear next to a MYA QT at the lounge, both with phunnels, both packed the same with the same shisha. Keep in mind, you could stack three QT's up on top of one another and they still wouldn't be as tall as the Pear. When we started smoking, the only positive difference I noticed on the KM was the smoke was a tad cooler. Other than that, the draw was the same, the smoke was the same, but one thing I noticed was the KM was much, much louder. It's like the phunnel was acting as a loudspeaker for the bubbling in the base. It was way louder than the QT making it seem like the QT was actually smoother.

Ease of Use - MYA's are notoriously convenient since they break down into multiple pieces allowing for easy cleaning. Friends of mine who have KM's have to take them in the shower with them since that's the only way they can clean them. It seems rather ridiculous. Also, with a hookah that tall and the build quality lacking on some of them, there seem to be major stability issues.

In the end, I recognize I have only been exposed to a couple different KM and MYA models. However, based on this experience, these are my thoughts. The only reason I could imagine why someone would buy a KM over a MYA would be if they just wanted something traditional and that was their only concern. Personally, I'm considering selling off all but two of the KM's down at the lounge and replacing them with slightly smaller MYA's.

Keep in mind, this is all IMO. I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes. Also, I have no experience with AF and MZ hookahs to compare to.